XPost: alt.global-warming

*Biden sets goal for 50% of new US vehicles to be electric by 2030

Oliver Milman, The Guardian via Carbon Brief

US president Joe Biden has set a goal for half of all new US vehicle
sales to be electric by 2030, while also tightening pollution
standards for cars and trucks, the Guardian reports. Yesterday, Biden
signed an executive order aimed at making 50% of all new cars and
trucks sold by the end of the decade be powered by electric batteries,
the paper explains. In addition to fully electric vehicles, the target
"will also include plug-in hybrids, which have gasoline engines to
backup their batteries, and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, which
currently make up a tiny fraction of US sales", reports Politico. It
adds: "The target isn't binding on consumers or automakers, but sets expectations for action over the coming decade, said the official who
conducted the press briefing." It is "backed up by new proposed rules
to strengthen upcoming federal tailpipe requirements through 2026,
with even stricter regulations expected for the following years" the
outlet adds. The suite of new goals and mandates was "forged after
months of talks with car manufacturers, autoworkers and environmental
groups", says the Washington Post. Speaking to the press, Biden said:
"The biggest thing that's happening here is there's a realisation, on
the part of both labour and business now, that this is the future. We
can't sit by," reports Reuters.

The 3 biggest US carmakers have welcomed the target, says BBC New:
"Responding to the Biden announcement, Ford, General Motors and
Stellantis [formerly known as Fiat Chrysler] expressed their "shared aspiration" for 40-50% of sales to be electric vehicles including
battery electric, fuel cell and plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2030. One
of America's largest unions, United Auto Workers (UAW), supports the initiative, while European and Japanese carmakers BMW, Honda,
Volkswagen and Volvo have applauded it." A Wall Street Journal
editorial describes this as a "political advertisement that automakers
staged with President Biden...endorsing the administration's stricter fuel-economy rules and climate agenda. Behold Big Business colluding
with Big Government to grab subsidies and raise consumer prices". The
updated tailpipe regulations would reverse "Trump-era loosening of
vehicle emissions rules with a new plan to boost efficiency 10% in the
2023 model year and aiming for a fleet average of 52 miles per gallon
by 2026", Reuters says. The White House estimates that this would cut
2bn tonnes of CO2 - about one-third of the total annual CO2 emissions
in the US, reports the New York Times, and prevent the burning of
about 200bn gallons of gasoline. The order "doesn't function as a
mandate, but it does create the conditions for us to meet that goal,"
Treasury secretary Pete Buttigieg tells CNBC, adding: "We have got to
act, the transportation sector is the biggest part of our economy
emitting greenhouse gases, and cars and trucks are one of the biggest
parts of that." The New York Times has another article under the
headline: "How Biden's EV plan could help Tesla and squeeze Toyota."
Bloomberg, Inside Climate News, the Hill and Wall Street Journal all
have the story, while the Washington Post has a piece on "where we are
on the road to electric vehicles".

In other transport news, DeSmog reports that a "new report by
backbench MPs opposing the UK govt's ban on new petrol and
diesel cars from 2030 is funded by the freight and haulage industry".

Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the White House also announced it is
committing more than $3bn in new funding for local govts to
increase their resilience to climate change. The move marks "a shift
in US disaster policy as climate change gets worse", says the New York
Times: "Rather than smaller, more targeted investments, the govt
is throwing huge sums of money at disaster preparation as fast as it
can." The Hill also has the story.

--
Covid Updates: Known Global Toll Reaches 200 Million Virus Infections
The New York Times, 05 Aug 2021 04:41Z
[30 years to go!]

NSW woman, 34, becomes Australia's seventh AstraZeneca-related death
ABC News, 05 Aug 2021 07:14Z
The Therapeutic Goods Administration says the woman died on Wed from a confirmed case of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome.

[Lockdown 6.0:]
BREAKING (5 Aug): In a press conf still going to air Prem Andrews has
announced Vic would go back into lockdown for 14 days starting in 3
hrs time (8pm). The call has been made after new cases were found
during the day after 6 were found connected with a suburban school
overnight. The whole state will be locked down because virus has been
found in some rural community wastewater. The lockdown will start
from 8pm this time because lockdown 5.0 (that ended just 7d ago)
started at midnight and it has since been discovered some key
infections had been transmitted in the last few hrs before that
lockdown started. While some of the 8 cases now detected in the prev
24 hrs are "mystery cases" at least one person that came out of
quarantine in NSW has visited someone that now has tested +ve.

[Sturgis 2.0!]
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Is Back Despite The Delta Variant
NPR, 04 Aug 2021 23:43Z

As hurricane season enters its peak, NOAA's updated forecast calls for even more storms: 21 named systems
USA TODAY, 04 Aug 2021 16:39Z
Matthew Rosencrans, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, said "a mix of competing oceanic and atmospheric...

California's largest wildfire explodes as hot weather threatens new blazes
The Guardian, 04 Aug 2021 22:39Z

Rare California water restrictions hit farmers amid dire shortages
The Guardian, 04 Aug 2021 22:38Z

[Uh, oh!]
Victoria records 2 new COVID-19 cases, on top of 6 confirmed yesterday
ABC News, 04 Aug 2021 23:07Z
Three of the new cases reported in the past day were in the community while infectious and genomic sequencing is underway to figure out how they caught
the virus.

At least 17 killed by lightning at Bangladesh wedding party
ABC News, 05 Aug 2021 01:06Z
Lightning strikes a wedding party on a boat in northwestern Bangladesh,
killing more than a dozen guests and injuring the groom.

[New records!]
NSW records highest number of daily COVID cases since pandemic began,
five deaths
ABC News, 05 Aug 2021 02:04Z
NSW records 262 new COVID cases and 5 deaths with Premier Gladys
Berejiklian announcing a snap lockdown for the Hunter and Upper Hunter regions.

Newcastle, Hunter in snap lockdown as COVID cases grow
ABC Newcastle, 05 Aug 2021 01:05Z
Residents in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley will face the same restrictions
as Greater Sydney when they enter a period of lockdown tonight that will
last until August 12.

Biden wants travellers to get the jab before being allowed to enter the US
ABC News, 05 Aug 2021 02:04Z
The Biden administration is developing a plan to require nearly all foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as part of eventually
lifting US travel restrictions.

Newcastle mosque turns away Sydney COVID breachers
ABC Newcastle, 05 Aug 2021 02:24Z
As the Hunter region faces a snap, seven-day lockdown, a Newcastle mosque confirms it has turned away a group of people who had travelled from Greater Sydney last week, in breach of lockdown rules.

Victoria records 6 local COVID cases as authorities race to track mystery infections
ABC News, 04 Aug 2021 23:07Z
One of the 6 cases is a teacher at Al-Taqwa College who was reported just
hours after the state confirmed a zero-case day on Tue, its first in
almost a month.

BREAKING (5 Aug): Delta has broken out of Sydney and appeared in a
college nr Newcastle. The govt is considering tightening the Sydney lockdown.

[Privatised water:]
Private provider lodges application to hike town's water bills by 682 per cent ABC Radio Adelaide, 04 Aug 2021 21:58Z
An application to increase Mount Compass' water supply charge from $92 a quarter to $722 is lodged just months after an application to increase
annual bills by about 260 per cent in total was rejected.

SPC makes COVID vaccination mandatory for workforce, becoming Australian
test case
ABC News Breakfast, 04 Aug 2021 21:57Z
Shepparton fruit and vegetable processor SPC becomes the first Australian workplace to mandate coronavirus vaccines for all onsite staff and visitors.

South Perth, Greenwood added to exposure sites list after FIFO worker
returns weak positive test
ABC News, 04 Aug 2021 22:34Z
Six new locations in metropolitan Perth are added to the list of COVID
exposure sites -- here's the full list of locations of concern.
[Seems to be a case of someone that recovered from covid but weeks
later was testing +ve again. It's believed the 2nd time he was not
infectious, just shedding inactive virus particles].

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)